Citizenship and Immigration committee  The way you pose the question is an either/or situation. I think it's a situation where a forward-looking aspect of policy can contemplate increases in both. It doesn't have to be an either/or situation. We've seen tremendous success in our family reunification program. We've s

Citizenship and Immigration committee  This is something that in my experience is very rarely utilized. The instances in which spouses or prospective applicants are granted visas are few and far between. One of the reasons for that, I would think--to be presumptuous of CIC's approach--is that they fear that a subseq

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Again, that rarely occurs. Generally when spouses are married in a country such as India or in any country, they have to be sponsored in order to be able to return. If they apply for a visitors visa, they're very likely not going to get it. However, there would be a mechanism to

Citizenship and Immigration committee  It's not happening often. There's a level of lack of knowledge, in the communities that sponsor most of these parents, of such avenues. When I raise the issue with clients, they're often surprised to discover there is even such a concept available to them. It's underutilized. W

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I have not yet.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm a lawyer who's been practising for 27 years now in Surrey, British Columbia. Surrey is unique in Canada. It's one of the most ethnically diverse and multicultural parts of this country. The face of that community has been substantially changed by immigr

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes I can, Mr. Chairman.